Chief Executive Officer

Summary

The newly scoped CEO role in our vision-focussed charity is one of many challenges. Despite having doubled its outputs in the last 2 years, the charity acknowledges there is still a great job of work to do to prepare itself for even greater demand in its services - without necessarily a proportionate increase in it's budgets. This role is about leading and enabling the incredible team of people on to even greater levels of already-strong performance. So we're looking for an accomplished leader and not just a great manager. We're looking for someone who can lead from both the front - and from within. This will be someone who is as comfortable sitting and engaging with our beneficiaries - primarily homeless people and those with previous convictions, as they are creating and delivering high polished, compelling public event and funder and stakeholder-focussed presentations. We are looking for someone who understands the balance of external and internal focus required to ensure both good governance and team wellbeing (as they work in often challenging circumstances) and the ambition to keep developing existing and new external partnerships. With a strong start to its ambitious Corporate Partnership programme, commercial and/or business experience is highly desirable as well as a proven track record in creating and optimising new funding channels.

In more detail

About Us

The Upper Room (TUR) works with a wide range of financially and socially disadvantaged groups including homeless people, people with long-term mental health conditions, asylum-seekers, refugees and ex-offenders – helping them to improve their lives and become productive members of society. Central to our offering is our UR4Meals service, providing free, home-cooked food to people who cannot afford to provide for themselves. We are also very proud of our UR4Driving programme, which supports people recently out of prison with free driving lessons in exchange for community volunteering. Gaining a driving licence greatly enhances their future employability prospects and helps break the cycle of re-offending. Additionally, our UR4Jobs project focusses on both client wellbeing and breaking down the many barriers to employment faced by disadvantaged people every day.

The role

Is leading the charity through its next phases of development as it prepares itself for year on year increases in demand with a focus on delivering the charity’s future resilience plan (Project 12/25). The CEO is accountable for overall charity performance (financial, operational, governance, compliance), team (paid and volunteer) support and development. Additionally, there are a wide range of community and external partner relationships to manage and develop. Ultimately this role sets the tone for the charity, one of both compassion and ambition to improve the lives of the people who need us. This is primarily an on-site role, with occasional opportunity to work flexibly.

About You

You have a stable CV that demonstrates you have built and led successful teams and enabled growth and/or transformation for your organisation – ideally in an equivalent charity/non-profit environment. You can evidence strong team leadership and results across a wide range of business functions which will need to include income generation, managing budgets and business operations. You live within - or know well, West/Central London, are passionate about improving the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people and can lead multi-functional teams through a blend of 121 coaching, training and ensuring a ‘we can do this’ culture across the charity. You are an accomplished and visionary public speaker and presenter, able to articulate both the journey we’re undertaking and the support/input we need to get there.